Feeding troughs for baby pigs



June 28, 1955 H. H. THALE 2,711,715

FEEDING TROUGHS FOR BABY PIGS Filed Jan. 4, 1954 F17: l I 1 57: J

IN V EN TOR.

1 I 14 4 HARRY H. THALE Pl 7 5 BY ATTORNEY 5 United States Patent FEEDING TROUGHS FOR BABY PIGS Harry H. Thale, Olympia, Wash.

Application January 4, 1954, Serial No. 401,837

3 Claims. (Cl. 119-20) This invention relates to feeding troughs for baby pigs, and the primary object of the invention is to train the baby pig to eat out of a trough without outside interference from other pigs.

Further, it requires no assistance from the attendant other than to place the baby pig in its own individual feeding stall at feeding time, beginning at the age of two or three days.

Another object of the invention is to provide stalls, preferably made up of screen, so that the attendant can set the pig into its own individual stall so that all the pig has to do is to step forward and feed out of the trough. The stalls are V-shaped, the apex of the V being adjacent the feeding trough, therefore the said V-shaped stalls direct the nose of the pig into the trough.

Means are provided within the trough for allowing the noses of the pigs to contact one another. This tends to help the pig learn to eat the food from the trough.

These and other incidental objects will be apparent in the drawings, specification and claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my new and improved feeding trough for pigs and the like, parts broken away for convenience of illustration.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view, taken on line 22 of Figure 1, looking in the direction indicated.

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view, taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2, illustrating how the wire partitions are secured together over the trough.

Figure 4 is a plan sectional view, taken on line 44 of Figure 2.

Referring more specifically to the drawings:

My new and improved feeding trough consists of a feeding tray 1. The feeding tray 1 has an outwardly extending flange 2 which rests on a supporting base 3 in the form of a circular drum. This supports the tray 1 slightly above the ground surface 4, as best illustrated in Figure 2.

Surrounding the feeding trough 1 are stalls 5. These stalls 5 have wire partitions 6 therebetween. The inner ends of these partitions 6 come together and terminate about the vertical post '7 and are secured thereto by wire loops or rings 8, referring particularly to Figures 3 and 4.

Collars 9 are located on the top and the bottom of the post 7 preventing the post from sliding endwise of the loops 8. Vertical posts 10 are also secured to the outer edges 11 of the partitions 6 by wire loops or rings 12, as best illustrated in Figure 2. The outer ends 11 of the partitions 6 are bridged or connected together by the vertical screen enclosure walls 13. The ends of these walls are connected to the post 10 by the wire loops 12 which connect to the inner partitions 6. The lower ends 14 of the partitions 6 are cut away to encircle the feeding trough 1 and permit the pigs to reach over the top of the trough 1, as indicated at 15, but still preventing the animal from communicating between the stalls while feeding.

Supported by one of the posts 10 is a liquid food container 16 which has a tube 17 running down into the it connected thereto.

trough 1. This supplies the food to the trough 1 automatically as the food is removed therefrom, and is a well known feeding principle. I also provide a heating lamp 18 for supplying warmth over the feeding trough 1 while the pigs are eating, this also is mounted to one of the vertical posts 10, as indicated at 19.

I will now describe the operation of my new and improved feeding device. The inner ends of the partitions 6 are assembled to the post 7 at the factory and remain The partitions 6 fold together about the post 7 into a fiat package for shipping, the outer walls 13 are then loosely placed in the carton, as well as the posts 10, food container 16 and the heat lamp 18, together with the trough 1, and the ring 3.

When ready to use the attendant unfolds the partitions 6 to the position shown in Figure 1, connects the side screen walls 13 thereto as shown to the posts 10 by the wire loops 12, mounts the feeding unit 16 and the light 18 as shown to the assembled device, then places the same over the trough 1 and the ring 3 as shown in the drawing. The feeding device is now ready to use.

The attendant places the animals within the stalls 5, as indicated by the broken lines, directing their noses over the food within the trough 1. The animals are able to touch each others noses, which encourages them to eat the food from the trough 1. The food from the container 16 automatically feeds down through the tube 17 until the same reaches a predetermined level where the vacuum created within the container 16 will stop the flow of the same until the vacuum is broken by the lowering of the food within the trough 1.

In cold weather, the outside walls 13 can be surrounded by paper or other material (not shown) suitable for keeping the warmth from the lamp 18 within the confines of the stalls 5.

It can be readily seen that by a very simple mechanical structure, the pigs are separated one from the other while feeding, except for their noses within the feeding tray, and the contacting of their noses are limited, only coming in contact sufficient to encourage each pig to learn to eat from the trough 1.

What is claimed is:

1. In a device for teaching baby pigs to feed, a circular feed trough, a central vertical post extending thereabove,

.. means adjacent said post for supplying liquid feed to said trough, a plurality of radially extending partitions of a height substantially in excess of the height of said trough extending from said central post, means securing said partitions to said central post, additional vertical posts at the ends of said partitions, means securing each of said partitions to its respective additional post, closure partitions extending between said end posts and secured thereto to form individual triangular feeding stalls, and a heat lamp mounted on one of said additional posts and extending centrally over said trough.

2. In a device for teaching baby pigs to feed, a circular feed trough, a central vertical post extending thereabove, means adjacent said post for supplying liquid feed to said trough, a plurality of radially extending partitions of a height substantially in excess of the height of said trough extending from said central post, means securing said partitions to said central post, additional vertical posts at the ends of said partitions, means securing each of said partitions to its respective additional post, closure partitions extending between said end posts and secured thereto to form individual triangular feeding stalls, and a heat lamp mounted on one of said additional posts and extending centrally over said trough, all of said partitions being formed of screening to permit visibility of adjacent pigs in adjacent stalls.

3. In a device for teaching baby pigs to feed, a circular feed trough, a central vertical post extending thereabove,

means adjacent said post for supplying liquid feed to said trough, a plurality of radially extending partitions of a height substantially in excess of the height of said trough extending from said central post, means securing said partitions to said central post, additional vertical posts at the ends of said partitions, means securing each of said partitions to its respective additional post, closure partitions extending between said end posts and secured thereto to form individual triangular feeding stalls, and a heat lamp mounted on one of said additional posts and extending centrally over said trough, all of said partitions being formed of screening to permit visibility of adjacent pigs in adjacent stalls, said trough extending into each stall beneath said radially extending portions to permit the touching of snouts of adjacent pigs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Buckwalter Dec. 14, Karley Apr. 9, Haesloop Feb. 27, Morris et al. Nov. 26, Rusnak et al. Sept. 9,

FOREIGN PATENTS France Feb. 27, Denmark Oct. 13, Great Britain Sept. 16, 

